We're Recycling a House!
Donation protected
Update, 9/6/2017: Hey All,
Exciting News! The house will fly tomorrow morning!
Our layout and foundation permit is approved and paid for, and the house mover, crane, utility companies, and traffic control are all lined up for tomorrow’s launch.
The house is scheduled to move tomorrow morning (September 7th), leaving its current location at 2120 17th Avenue at about 3:00 a.m., and arriving at its launch location on 9th Avenue near our house at 904 Alta Street about 4:00 to 4:30 a.m. Then, the crane will be lifting the house into our backyard starting around 6:30 a.m.
Much work has been done to get this far, and we send a huge thank you to all of you who have helped us get to this point!
So, what all have we doing during these last 6 weeks?
Removed the porch from the house to be moved (and salvaged the materials).
Had 3 large trees cut down, and we hauled the limbs to the recycling center, and bartered the black walnut trunk for use of a mini-excavator.
Emptied out the old barn/garage and set up a tarp carport to serve as a temporary storage area.
Had a Barn Razing party with lots of help from friends and family to dismantle the old barn/garage (and salvaged the wood that wasn’t rotten).
Built a new concrete foundation for our 10x12 office/studio. We dug the hole, made the concrete forms, and poured the foundation ourselves (and friends), for about half the cost of what we would have needed to pay someone else.
The house movers re-located the office/studio to its final location over our newly built foundation.
The house movers re-located the chicken coop so that it is out of the way of the incoming house. Note, the chickens have loved all of our recent activity, because we have stirred up lots of bugs and earthworms. And, ahem, some mice - - who new that chickens were such raptors?
Drew up the layout and foundation plans and worked with the City to make sure that everything is approved and permitted.
Got really sweaty, dusty, tired, stronger, and learned a lot too. : )
What's next?
Once the re-located house has been safely secured in our back yard, first we'll celebrate, rest, and be grateful for all the help we've received and the progress that has happened so far.
Then, we'll work with the bank to get a construction loan to build the foundation for the re-located house and to connect the utilities. The bank wants 30% down, so we now have a new goal to raise $26,000 with 10% APR promissory notes on our GoFundMe site. We'll add that to the $6,000 we've already funded, so the total will appear to be a whopping $32,000 ... it sounds like a lot, but if we don't ask, we don't get. GoFundMe will allow us to keep any money we receive, whether we reach our goal or not, so don't worry about what happens if we don't reach it!
Photos and video of the house flying coming soon!
Update, 7/22/2017: Wow! We've reached our first goal! If you would still like to invest, exceeding our goal would really help with the next step, which is digging the basement and building the foundation.
Keep on reading for the whole story, so far.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This house was scheduled for demolition, so the property on which it currently sits can be developed. The owner would prefer that it be moved and reused, if it can be done before construction starts.
We hate to see perfectly good houses getting torn down because they're in the way. We also need more space than we have now. Two adults and two teenage boys living in 867 sq ft is ... stressful.
Serendipity happened, and the owner has given us the house, on the condition that we get it moved in time. We need to have it moved into our back yard by August 8th, and then we'll connect it to our house!
This is not quite the usual kind of crowdfunding appeal. We are asking for loans rather than outright donations, and we’re offering 10% APR on any monetary contributions we receive. We’ll guarantee at least one year’s interest, no matter how soon we repay you, and we’ll issue a promissory note for each loan.
Our immediate goal is to raise $6000, no later than August 7th.
$6000 is 18% of the cost of getting the house here. We have the rest covered.
That’s all we need at this point, but the timing is extremely tight. If we can’t raise that last $6K in time, we’ll have to abandon the project, let the house be demolished, and lose the money we’ve already paid to the house moving company, and for permits from the City.
This is an interim goal. We need to raise this $6000 now, but once we have the house here and have more feedback from the banks, we will probably need to raise more as a bridge.
This project will double our space and also give us a rental unit. If all goes as planned, we expect to have the Certificate of Occupancy by October or November of this year, and will be able to have a tenant move in as soon as we have that.
We plan to refi by the end of January 2018, and to pay back any remaining loans at that time. Of course, that may get pushed back if the construction schedule gets seriously delayed.
We're doing a lot of the work ourselves, aside from things that require special equipment or training, or just aren't safe for us to do. All four of us, the boys included.
We also plan to take photos and video, and document the whole project as an example of what's possible for others who might like to do something like this. If we can create good tutorials out of them, we'll post those, too.
Why not a bank?
There is a bank! We are getting a construction loan. However, it may take two more months for the loan to land in our bank account. The house we want to bring here has to be moved by August 8th. If it isn't, it will be demolished to make way for new development at its present location. We have to pay to get it moved before that happens.
What needs to happen to get the house here:
-- Clean up and rearrange the backyard so it's as open as possible. (We've already done this ourselves).
-- Cut down one large tree, some little trees, and trim one of the other big trees. (This, we hired someone for).
-- Move our studio shed so that it's next to our current house. (Another pro job)
-- Move the chicken coop. (Pro. Part of the studio move).
-- Empty and tear down the old horse barn, which will be pretty easy. Physically. We're kind of sad to see it go. (We'll do this, with any friends who want to come help with the Barn Razing).
-- The house mover is already prepping the "new" house and will move it to our location. (There are more pictures on our website).
-- A crane will pick the house up from street level and fly it into our yard. (Ooooooh ... aaaaaaah ...)
Our crowdfunding goal will cover:
-- Getting the trees cut down/trimmed
-- Fees for the survey and permits
-- The shortfall for paying the pros who are moving the house to our propery
We welcome donations: labor, materials, knowledge, loans of equipment, even money, if you so desire.
-- Come help at our Barn Razing Party!
-- Loan us your brains! Expertise, experience, ideas -- we would love to hear what you have to say.
-- Help us document what we're doing with photos and video!
-- Come drive a Bobcat or a mini-excavator!
-- Give us recommendations for contractors!
-- Most importantly, help boost the signal!
Exciting News! The house will fly tomorrow morning!
Our layout and foundation permit is approved and paid for, and the house mover, crane, utility companies, and traffic control are all lined up for tomorrow’s launch.
The house is scheduled to move tomorrow morning (September 7th), leaving its current location at 2120 17th Avenue at about 3:00 a.m., and arriving at its launch location on 9th Avenue near our house at 904 Alta Street about 4:00 to 4:30 a.m. Then, the crane will be lifting the house into our backyard starting around 6:30 a.m.
Much work has been done to get this far, and we send a huge thank you to all of you who have helped us get to this point!
So, what all have we doing during these last 6 weeks?
Removed the porch from the house to be moved (and salvaged the materials).
Had 3 large trees cut down, and we hauled the limbs to the recycling center, and bartered the black walnut trunk for use of a mini-excavator.
Emptied out the old barn/garage and set up a tarp carport to serve as a temporary storage area.
Had a Barn Razing party with lots of help from friends and family to dismantle the old barn/garage (and salvaged the wood that wasn’t rotten).
Built a new concrete foundation for our 10x12 office/studio. We dug the hole, made the concrete forms, and poured the foundation ourselves (and friends), for about half the cost of what we would have needed to pay someone else.
The house movers re-located the office/studio to its final location over our newly built foundation.
The house movers re-located the chicken coop so that it is out of the way of the incoming house. Note, the chickens have loved all of our recent activity, because we have stirred up lots of bugs and earthworms. And, ahem, some mice - - who new that chickens were such raptors?
Drew up the layout and foundation plans and worked with the City to make sure that everything is approved and permitted.
Got really sweaty, dusty, tired, stronger, and learned a lot too. : )
What's next?
Once the re-located house has been safely secured in our back yard, first we'll celebrate, rest, and be grateful for all the help we've received and the progress that has happened so far.
Then, we'll work with the bank to get a construction loan to build the foundation for the re-located house and to connect the utilities. The bank wants 30% down, so we now have a new goal to raise $26,000 with 10% APR promissory notes on our GoFundMe site. We'll add that to the $6,000 we've already funded, so the total will appear to be a whopping $32,000 ... it sounds like a lot, but if we don't ask, we don't get. GoFundMe will allow us to keep any money we receive, whether we reach our goal or not, so don't worry about what happens if we don't reach it!
Photos and video of the house flying coming soon!
Update, 7/22/2017: Wow! We've reached our first goal! If you would still like to invest, exceeding our goal would really help with the next step, which is digging the basement and building the foundation.
Keep on reading for the whole story, so far.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This house was scheduled for demolition, so the property on which it currently sits can be developed. The owner would prefer that it be moved and reused, if it can be done before construction starts.
We hate to see perfectly good houses getting torn down because they're in the way. We also need more space than we have now. Two adults and two teenage boys living in 867 sq ft is ... stressful.
Serendipity happened, and the owner has given us the house, on the condition that we get it moved in time. We need to have it moved into our back yard by August 8th, and then we'll connect it to our house!
This is not quite the usual kind of crowdfunding appeal. We are asking for loans rather than outright donations, and we’re offering 10% APR on any monetary contributions we receive. We’ll guarantee at least one year’s interest, no matter how soon we repay you, and we’ll issue a promissory note for each loan.
Our immediate goal is to raise $6000, no later than August 7th.
$6000 is 18% of the cost of getting the house here. We have the rest covered.
That’s all we need at this point, but the timing is extremely tight. If we can’t raise that last $6K in time, we’ll have to abandon the project, let the house be demolished, and lose the money we’ve already paid to the house moving company, and for permits from the City.
This is an interim goal. We need to raise this $6000 now, but once we have the house here and have more feedback from the banks, we will probably need to raise more as a bridge.
This project will double our space and also give us a rental unit. If all goes as planned, we expect to have the Certificate of Occupancy by October or November of this year, and will be able to have a tenant move in as soon as we have that.
We plan to refi by the end of January 2018, and to pay back any remaining loans at that time. Of course, that may get pushed back if the construction schedule gets seriously delayed.
We're doing a lot of the work ourselves, aside from things that require special equipment or training, or just aren't safe for us to do. All four of us, the boys included.
We also plan to take photos and video, and document the whole project as an example of what's possible for others who might like to do something like this. If we can create good tutorials out of them, we'll post those, too.
Why not a bank?
There is a bank! We are getting a construction loan. However, it may take two more months for the loan to land in our bank account. The house we want to bring here has to be moved by August 8th. If it isn't, it will be demolished to make way for new development at its present location. We have to pay to get it moved before that happens.
What needs to happen to get the house here:
-- Clean up and rearrange the backyard so it's as open as possible. (We've already done this ourselves).
-- Cut down one large tree, some little trees, and trim one of the other big trees. (This, we hired someone for).
-- Move our studio shed so that it's next to our current house. (Another pro job)
-- Move the chicken coop. (Pro. Part of the studio move).
-- Empty and tear down the old horse barn, which will be pretty easy. Physically. We're kind of sad to see it go. (We'll do this, with any friends who want to come help with the Barn Razing).
-- The house mover is already prepping the "new" house and will move it to our location. (There are more pictures on our website).
-- A crane will pick the house up from street level and fly it into our yard. (Ooooooh ... aaaaaaah ...)
Our crowdfunding goal will cover:
-- Getting the trees cut down/trimmed
-- Fees for the survey and permits
-- The shortfall for paying the pros who are moving the house to our propery
We welcome donations: labor, materials, knowledge, loans of equipment, even money, if you so desire.
-- Come help at our Barn Razing Party!
-- Loan us your brains! Expertise, experience, ideas -- we would love to hear what you have to say.
-- Help us document what we're doing with photos and video!
-- Come drive a Bobcat or a mini-excavator!
-- Give us recommendations for contractors!
-- Most importantly, help boost the signal!
Organizer
Anna-Liza Armfield
Organizer
Longmont, CO